IAR Quorum Call

Illinois Association of REALTORS
Quorum Call Week in Review
April 11, 2008


Quorum Call is distributed Fridays when the Illinois General Assembly is in session. For more information, contact Greg St. Aubin, Director of IAR Governmental Affairs, gstaubin@iar.org, or Julie Sullivan, Assistant Director, Legislative and Political Affairs, jsullivan@iar.org. Full text of legislation cited in this newsletter can be found at www.ilga.gov.

“Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty.”~John Adams
- On Wednesday the House unanimously approved House Bill 4611, sponsored by Representative Connie Howard. The bill expands the “Our Own Home Program” within the State Treasurer’s office. This program, established in 2002 assists Illinois residents buy a home or keep their existing homes from going into foreclosure. “Our Own Home” provides lenders with extra security on mortgages they might otherwise reject. The Treasurer’s Office guarantees 10 percent of each loan amount for the first five years of the mortgage. Under the provisions of the bill, the Treasurer’s office will assist mortgage holders in refinancing, in addition to loans for purchasing a home. In addition, the legislation redefines “home loan” within the program to remove the 50% cap on the conforming loan size.
-
- On Wednesday the House approved House Bill 6302 on a roll call vote of 79-32-2. This measure, sponsored by Representative Kevin Joyce, will require Cook County to annually assess property replacing the current three year reassessment cycle. ALL other counties in the State do annual assessments. The Cook County Assessor opposes the bill and indicated that it would cost the office $10 million due to the requirement that all residential property be reassessed by October 1, 2008. The bill has been sent to the Senate for their consideration- its fate there is unclear.

- Also on Wednesday, the House approved House Bill 4352. The bill, sponsored by Representative Naomi Jakobsson, establishes in Illinois law provisions regarding landlord access to a dwelling unit. The legislation requires a landlord to give a tenant no less than 2 days notice of their intent to enter EXCEPT for instances where repairs or maintenance elsewhere in the building unexpectedly require the access or in cases of an emergency. In those two exceptions the landlord is required to give the tenant notice of the entry within 2 days after the entry. The bill also specifies entry times as between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. This measure is OPPOSED by IAR.

- The House Local Government Committee narrowly approved House Bill 2916 on a roll call vote of 6-5-0 this week and sent the bill to the full House for their consideration. This bill STRONGLY OPPOSED by the IAR would give ALL counties and municipalities unlimited authority to license and regulate landlords. Based on some of the onerous requirements, restrictions and fees some home rule municipalities have imposed in their landlord regulatory ordinances, the IAR is extremely concerned with expanding this unfettered authority to non-home rule units. PLEASE CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AND APPRISE THEM OF OUR OPPOSITION AND WATCH FOR A CALL TO ACTION ON THIS LEGISLATION NEXT WEEK. This bill is sponsored by Representative Dennis Reboletti.

- House Bill 4613, sponsored by Representative LaShawn Ford was approved this week in the House and sent to the Senate for their consideration. This measure amends the Criminal Code to provide that forgery of a property deed is a Class 2 (rather than a Class 3) felony. The IAR is NEUTRAL on this proposal.

- The Senate approved legislation this week to grant all counties except Cook County the authority to place a question on the ballot for a property tax to be levied for a county farmland preservation easement program. IF the voters so authorize, the county could levy an annual 0.05% property tax with proceeds being used for the purchase of easements to preserve farmland. In effect, the county voters would be asked if they support a countywide property tax increase for the purchase of development rights. The legislation allows the question to be placed on the ballot by the county board OR by a petition of the citizens. Conversely, the legislation also gives the citizens the opportunity to petition for a vote to be held to discontinue the program and tax. The legislation was amended to require the petition to get the question on the ballot to be signed by at least 0.5% of the total number of votes cast in the county during the last preceding gubernatorial election (instead of 100 taxpayers residing in the county). The measure is sponsored by Senator Pam Althoff and Representative Mike Tryon.

- The Senate Local Government Committee unanimously approved a change to the Illinois Municipal Code to address the issue of forced annexations. Senate Bill 2677, sponsored by Senator Maggie Crotty requires a municipality to provide notification of a planned annexation to the taxpayers within the territory. Notice is currently required to be published in a newspaper of general circulation within the territory not less than 10 days before the passage of the annexation ordinance and is also sent to the township supervisor. This bill would add the requirement that the municipality, not less than 15 days before the passage of the annexation ordinance, serve written notice in person or by certified mail on the taxpayers within the territory. The bill also provides that once notice is given no other municipality may annex the proposed territory for a period of 60 days from the date the notice is mailed or delivered to the taxpayers. This bill is pending on the Senate floor. The IAR SUPPORTS this proposal.

- Two constitutional amendments were considered this week in the Illinois House- with very different results. On Tuesday, the House approved HJRCA 28, sponsored by Representative Jack Franks. This proposed amendment to the State Constitution would allow voters to petition for a recall election of any executive branch officer or member of the General Assembly. A petition to recall an executive branch officer must include signatures of at least 12% of the total votes cast for the office in the last election. A petition to recall a member of the General Assembly must be signed by at least 20% of the total votes cast in the election for the official. HJRCA 28 was approved on a roll call vote of 75-33-3.
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/votehistory/95/house/09500HC0028_04082008_018000A.pdf Most observers feel that the proposed amendment will NOT pass the Senate. On Thursday, the House defeated a proposed constitutional amendment to double the individual income tax rate for those earning $250,000 or more (3% to 6%) after a lengthy debate. The proposal would also have increased the standard exemption for those making under $250,000 from $2,000 to $4,500; indexed the tax rates and the exemption to the inflation rate; and required proceeds from the tax increase to be deposited into funds for capital projects and education funding. Under the provisions of the Illinois Constitution, all proposed amendments must be approved by a 3/5 vote in the House (71 votes) and the Senate (36 votes) and then submitted to the voters at least six months after approval by the General Assembly. This requirement means that any constitutional amendment considered in the fall election must be voted on by both chambers by May 4th. HJRCA 42 was defeated on a roll call vote of 52-60-0.
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/votehistory/95/house/09500HC0042_04102008_003000A.pdf

- The Governor signed into law legislation this week to ratify and approve the “Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote” (P.A. 95-714). This is an initiative to abolish the Electoral College and it would become effective only if ALL states enact the agreement. To date 11 states have approved the agreement.

- The General Assembly is scheduled to be in session next week Tuesday, April 15-Friday, April 18th.


For more information, contact Greg St. Aubin, Director of IAR Governmental Affairs, gstaubin@iar.org, or Julie Sullivan, Assistant Director, Legislative and Political Affairs, jsullivan@iar.org.

Contact information for members of the House and Senate, notice of committee hearings, text of legislation and roll call votes are all available on the Illinois General Assembly’s Web site, www.ilga.gov.